Running from the Light
by Hope Diamonde
Summary: CHAPTER 3 IS UP AND CC INSIDE! NEWSIES IN MODERN TIMES! A girl runs away and meets up with the newsies. Rating subject to change for excessive cursing. I know this summary sux. Please RR
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: Besides the fact that you all know, I don't own newsies, something's wrong with me. It'd be one thing if I wrote new stories after I finished one, but no, I have like 7 started, and I'm starting another one. And I own Merrily. If you want to use my character or be in this story don't hesitate to ask. It might be a bit confusing to begin with but I hope it'll all be good! Please read and review!  
  
RUNNING FROM THE LIGHT  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
I don't' know how she does it. Six kids, one mother, one father who's the father of only two of those kids. She is such a slut. A fucking whore. What's funny is that all her kids are mistakes. What's even funnier is that of all the mistakes she's ever made, I'm probably the one she regrets the most.  
  
15. She was 15. I was 15 a year ago. I'm more then half her age. That's so wrong. Thanks to her I was such a messed up child. I was so messed up! I even remember once in 3rd grade . . .  
  
**********  
  
"Merrily . . . why don't you tell us a little about your family?"  
  
"Well my mom just had a baby, it's a girl."  
  
"Oh really? And what does your father think about this?" I think I just stared blankly at her. "Your dad?" she repeated.  
  
"I don't have one."  
  
"When did they divorce? After she got pregnant, right?" she was trying so hard to patch things up. No teacher would want to subject their students to what I was putting them through. Well it was too late for that.  
  
"My mom was never married. In fact I don't' even know who my father is. Or my brothers father. He's different then mine. And so is my sis . . ."  
  
"I think you should sit down now Merrily" she cut me off but damage had already been inflicted. Oops. I think I scarred some kids emotionally that day.  
  
**********  
  
I don't' think I've ever called her mom. I mean like straight to her face. I might have said "my mom" when referring to her but only because she bore me in her womb for nine months and gave birth to me. That's the only motherly thing she's ever done for me.  
  
Max. Ah Max. Max the ass. Max the bastard. Max the son of a bitch. Max the asshole. Max the jackass. Max. Don't' get me wrong here. Max is a great guy. That is if you want to get beat and bitched at every night. Which is evidently what she wants. Because that's what she's got.  
  
I was proud of her when she finally got married. She had just had her fourth child, Marigold, but Max was actually the father. So they got married. I was hoping that married life would change her. Maybe she would settle down, become a good mother, care for her children. A year later she had Hunter . . . and Max was the father. It was great. Sure he beat her. Sure her job doesn't pay much. Except for the tips. She gets mad tips. Sure she had five kids. Sure . . . except for that, and plenty more factors I didn't list, things were great. Then it happened. She got pregnant. But oh no . . . it wasn't Max's child. She reckons it was one of her "customers" who impregnated her. Too much drinking on the job I'm guessing. Things got worse at home. My life went from bad to hell. No exaggeration. School sucked. Home sucked. She sucks (not for free of course). I had to get out.  
  
I tried. I honestly did. I found ways to cope. Dance was the only place where I could actually escape. Dance was the only way I could channel my anger. Until Max dearest made me quit. He made up some crap lie like we didn't have enough money to afford my dances lessons. Bull shit. He runs a fucking car dealership. Have you any idea how much those people make? A hell of a lot. How did he get that job? I have no idea. But he fits very nicely into the slime bucket asshole role. Anyway I was forced to quit. That's when I discovered something worse then hell, my life. No one cared about me. I was the fucking live in baby-sitter. I couldn't take it anymore. I remember that day so clearly, so well. The day that I cracked.  
  
My alarm was broken that day. Or maybe I just accidentally on-purpose forgot to turn it on. Well whatever the reason was, I woke up half an hour late.  
  
"Shit!" I yelled. I didn't have to worry about my 'siblings' hearing me because they have as bad a mouth as I do, sometimes even worse. I ran down stairs after throwing on my favorite pair of jeans and a blue peasant blouse. And a baby was thrust into my arms, literally.  
  
"I called you in sick. I need you to care for Harrison."  
  
"What the fuck?" I screamed in her face. Harrison chose that time, of all times, to start wailing.  
  
"Don't you bitch at me! You're making him cry!"  
  
"Look! I'm not a fucking slut like you are. I don't sleep around fucking everything that has a penis, no matter how big or small it is. He's your son. You can take care of him yourself!"  
  
"Don't tell me how to live my life! I've got problems you wouldn't even start to understand! Go bitch at someone else, not me. I've got to get to work. Take care of Harrison. NOW!"  
  
"Oh I see, you put your clothes on just to take them off again? Don't' forget to bring your pills and condoms. Oh silly me I forgot . . . you keep those in your purse. Just in case right?"  
  
"What's the fucking noise for?" we both turned to see Max, wearing only boxers, leaning against the doorframe. "Can a man not fucking sleep in his own house? What will it take to shut you bitches up?"  
  
"Talk to your stepdaughter, she's being the bitch!"  
  
"Merrily, don't give your mother a hard time."  
  
"Here Max" I thrusted Harrison into his arms. "Have a baby. I know you don't care anything about him but I don't' care about him even more!"  
  
"Don't' you give me this shit!" he placed Harrison on the table, not too gently, and slapped me. For the first time ever he dared to slap me. He had actually slapped me. "Do you learn your fucking lesson bitch? I'm letting you live in my fucking house, so don't give me this shit. Why can't you just be appreciative for once? Just once in your damn life, be appreciative!"  
  
"Bastard!" I shouted right back at him. Harrison was screaming and crying out of control now and I just noticed Hunter running around the house singing a new little jingle to himself. I think the words were somewhere along the lines of 'Merrily's a bitch.' That set me off. "Shut the fuck up asshole!" I screamed at him. And Max went berserk.  
  
"It's one thing to curse out your mother's son because she's a whore but when you curse out my son . . . You're just asking for it bitch" before he could do anything to me, I kicked him right in the nuts. Max sunk to the floor, tears welling up in his eyes.  
  
"Don't fuck with me Max. Just DON'T!" I stormed upstairs and stuffed some clothes, CD's and my CD player, necessities, and a wad of money into my backpack. I ran into THEIR room and grabbed an even bigger wad of money from their 'hidden stash.' It's the least they could do for me for putting me through this hell. I slipped on my red sneakers and threw on my Quicksilver sweatshirt. I ran into Lily's room and kissed her on the forehead. Just looking at me half-sister made me start to cry. She blinked her long eyelashes and opened her big blue eyes.  
  
"Merrily?" she asked it a questioning tone.  
  
"I'm leaving Lily" she threw her arms around my neck.  
  
"Don't leave me here! Take me with you!"  
  
"I can't. I'll miss you kid" I guess you'd say I could stand Lily. Actually I have a soft spot in my heart for the girl. She sort of reminds me of me when I was a kid. Plus she's not a child of Max so that's a bonus.  
  
"Bye Merrily" she said with a sniffle. "I love you."  
  
"I love ya too" I choked out. I walked out of her room and down the stairs. Without looking back I opened the door, walked out, and slammed it behind me. The sun was just starting to rise and I turned and walked west, away from it. I was running away. I was running from the light. 


	2. Chapter 1: Going West

A/N: Wow I feel so incredibly loved. The love is seriously overwhelming. Just keep bringing the love. "All you need is love!" True, so true! I can't believe I have so many wonderful reviews on just the prologue. Well this should get good. I already have two wonderful candidates to be in my story. If you want to be in this story say so on your review or e-mail me your profile. If you say so in your review I'll e-mail you an application. If you want to use any of my characters please e-mail me seeing as how they belong to, yes me. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!! KEEP IT UP!!!  
  
SHOUT OUTS TO MY LOYAL FANS:  
  
Faces-thank you so very much for the praise. I feel so...what's that word? Oh right, loved! Don't worry, you'll be in my story soon.!  
  
Ember-the newsies are coming. It wouldn't be a good newsies fan fic if there weren't any newsies in it, now would it?  
  
Seraph-thank you very much. I feel much more confident with my writing when I get compliments like those!  
  
BabyD-well I don't know if I can GIVE you more, but you can definitely read some more! I think we all have this little *obsession obsession* with newsies or none of us would be here . . . LOL.  
  
Volcanous-more happens! and more chappies on their way!  
  
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NEWSIES! If I did . . . well . . . let's just put it this way, I'd be one happy girl. Suing me would of course be pointless because if by some bizarre law miracle you win all you'd get is a bunch of pencils, permanent markers, a binder filled with newsies fan-fics and *hee hee* safety pins.  
  
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CHAPTER 1: GOING WEST  
  
I walked west. I walked west for a while. I didn't walk all the time, I rode some public buses but all that matters is the fact that I walked. It wasn't a long walk. I eventually caught a bus to Salt Lake, which is like twenty miles away from Park City. Once I got to the city, I wandered around for half an hour trying to remember where the hell the damned bus depot was. Once I got there I bought myself a ticket on the first bus headed west, not caring where it was. San Francisco . . . here I come!  
  
600 miles. 600 miles on a fucking bus. That's like . . . what? 655 minutes. 10 hours. 10 hours and 55 minutes. I have to spend 10 hours on a fucking bus! Sure it's a charter bus and all. But 11 hours about? That's pure cruel and heartless torture.  
  
The bus departed at 9 AM so I sat in the depot for like half an hour. To pass the time I listened to Godsmacks new CD. As people got on the bus, they gave me weird looks. I don't know how young, or old, I look . . . some people have told me I look 14 . . . and some have said that I look almost 20. Whatever. I don't give a flying fuck about what they think. I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I'm on my own now. I don't have to listen to anyone, I don't have to wait for anyone and most of all I don't have to depend on anyone.  
  
Some old fag sat next to me. He kept on glancing over at me and I'm giving him the bitchiest looks imaginable. I'm hoping that he'll pick up what I'm getting at. I checked the ticket and it turns out we'll be stopping in Carson City for half an hour. Picking some other people up I guess. If I judged it right it'll be something like seven and a half-hours until we get there. A good time for sleep if I do say so myself. There are no other lullabies like heavy metal to put you asleep. I cranked the volume all the way up and closed my eyes.  
  
I woke up to find someone else sitting next to me. He was a boy, somewhere around the age of 17. He had blue eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses and shaggy blonde hair. I guess he noticed that I was staring at him because he turned and looked at me straight in the eyes.  
  
"Hi" he said with a smile. I took off my headphones and let them rest around my neck.  
  
"Hi . . ." I said slowly. I don't normally talk to strangers but there was something about this guy that just made him different.  
  
"My names Dutchy. What's yours?"  
  
"Merrily."  
  
"You don't look like a Merrily."  
  
"I know. My name means merry and I'm some physco depressive chick."  
  
"That's not what I meant. You look more like a . . . Skunk" he touched my hair and I didn't flinch or brush him away. Because I knew why he was touching my hair. He was touching the chunk that was dyed black and swept over to the side. The rest of my hair is bleach blonde, naturally.  
  
"Skunk?"  
  
"Yeah. It fits you. I'm not saying you smell or anything. You just look like . . . Skunk. Would you answer if I called you that?"  
  
"Sure" I replied. It's not like I'm gonna see this kid again after this bus trip so why not let him call me Skunk?  
  
"So why are you here?"  
  
"I ran away."  
  
"How come?" I normally wouldn't tell a stranger these types of details but there was something in his eyes. His clear blue eyes peered deep inside my head and it felt like he already knew everything he needed to know about me. Those eyes. I knew I could trust him. Because of his eyes.  
  
"My life had gone past the stage of living hell. Everyone involved in my life, in any way, shape, or form, hated me."  
  
"Everyone?"  
  
"Yes. And my mother hated me the most. At 15 years of age she definitely wasn't ready to have a child. But there I was and there was nothing she could do about it. Her parents, my grandparents, were distraught. You see, they're strict Catholics and she had sinned so much. This just made everything worse. For three years Ii lived with them. They took me to church every Sunday. She didn't go. As soon as she was 18 she left, taking me with her. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I guess she didn't hate me at the time. Well at 18 and broke she needed a job. So she decided to get in employed in what she did best . . . being a slut. She got a job at a strip club.  
  
"At three years old I was a corrupt little child. I was being raised in a fucking strip club! I had the most vulgar vocabulary imaginable. It was quite disturbing. I'd be sitting at a table coloring and I would hear noises coming from the back room. I bet you can guess what those noises were. Well I sure as hell knew. At first it bothered me, but then it just became one of the back round noises, along with the music. And by time I was four I had already received all the lessons I would ever need in the human anatomy and sex education.  
  
"Even though I was very corrupt I still was interested in things I saw on TV. And one of them was dance. Ever since watching one of those dancing competitions on TV, I wanted to be a dancer. I even told her this. And she told the rest of the girls at the club. They all thought that this was so cute and they knew that she had nowhere near enough money to afford dance lessons for me. But because they cared, and she cared a little, they all pitched in to help pay for dance lessons. Such nice girls for being strippers. I tried them all. Tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, clogging, and hip-hop. I liked jazz and hip-hop the best. So I took lessons in those two. And I loved them. I loved to dance. It was the only good thing I can remember about my childhood.  
  
"When I was five my mother gave birth to Forrest. Nasty little bastard. I didn't like him from the start. It was then that I was first employed with the job of baby-sitter, while she stepped on stage, took off her clothes, and went off to fuck some random guy in the back room. I would usually just set him down in a corner and go about my business. He wasn't my damn responsibility. She would come back, barley clothed, to check on him and then after discovering I wasn't taking care of him she would bitch at me for not being responsible and looking after him. I would often bitch right back at her, seeing as how he was her son, not mine. She didn't like that so she would slap me and lock me in the storage closet until she needed me to take care of Forrest again. I started to hide snacks and things to do in the storage closet seeing as how I was in there so often. She even forgot about me and left me in there once. I didn't have a watch so I didn't have any idea what time it was. A night janitor found me and one of her fellow workers brought me home with her. That was the best night of my childhood, actually being cared for by a woman her age. Then this worker had to go and give me back to her.  
  
"Of course my mother had to send me to school. So she did. I didn't enjoy it but if it meant getting away from her, I was willing to try anything. And her, being the way she was, couldn't help from fucking guys, so when I was eight, she had Lily. I liked Lily. For some reason I liked the kid. Maybe having another girl around, besides her, was the reason but I liked her no matter what the reason was. Forrest, on the other hand, was becoming an asshole and a mini-pimp. Seriously, the girls at the club loved him and couldn't seem to get their hands off of him. It was disgusting.  
  
"That year she met Max. She fell in love with him and he . . . he was a bastard. When I was nine Max moved in with us. I hated him and I would constantly tell her this. She would just laugh it off and then order me to go make dinner or do something constructive. I was a genuine Cinderella. My counselor often called home to tell my mother her child was seriously depressed. She would just bitch at them and scream 'don't tell me how the raise my own fucking child!' So eventually the school rendered it pointless and just stopped calling. And all chances I had for escape went right down the drain and into the land of the broken dreams.  
  
"I had never seen her happier to be pregnant. Maybe it was because she actually knew who the father of this child was, Max. They decided to get married so after Marigold was born they . . . got married. Forrest was of course the ring-bearer and Lily, the little two year old Lily, was the flower girl. Not the competent ten-year-old . . . no she had to take care of her latest illegitimate half-sibling whom she didn't care about and frankly, hated. So I didn't even get to see her get married. How fucking cruel can you get? Not even letting your very own daughter see your wedding. And low and behold, I didn't get to go to the reception either. I was too busy playing live in baby-sitter.  
  
"The year after they got married Hunter was born. Because Max was too busy running his stupid fucking car business and she was too busy taking her clothes off and still fucking around with other guys, I was often pulled out of school to baby-sit. And if she wanted me to stay home to begin with, half the time she would forget to call in my 'excused' absence. I'm surprised that I even passed sixth grade with my horrible attendance record. Somehow, miraculously, I maintained good grades and . . . made it to middle school.  
  
"Middle school. In middle school I started getting, how should I put this? Overly rebellious I guess you could call it. I dyed my hair bright green, got cat eye contacts, got my years pierced three times, got a cartilage piercing in my left ear, got my eyebrow pierced, which in case you can't notice has grown out, and got my belly button pierced. I constantly skipped class and could easily fake passes when needed. She really didn't care. She just bitched at whoever called from the school. Even with my rebellious attitude and punky looks and clothing I somehow avoided drugs and stayed mostly clean. I constantly looked toward suicide but my dance instructors helped me out of my strange depression.  
  
"Life went well for the next three years. If you could call it well. Life went as good as it gets for my family. Then one day, when my mom got back from her gynecologist appointment she announced that she was three weeks pregnant. She and Max were very happy and I, of course, was pissed. I had thought that I was finished being the fucking live in baby-sitter. Well the next morning Max was livid. He'd been looking over his agenda for the day in his calendar when he remembered that he was out of town all week, three weeks ago. Meaning he wasn't the father of her child. Meaning she had fucked another guy.  
  
"Life became hell. And there was no way to escape it. Besides dance I mean. But of course nothing good lasts forever. She gave birth to Harrison. And Max could not hide his utter hatred. So it took it out on her by beating her even more, and he took it on me, taking away dance. He said some bullshit like we didn't have enough money. Yet we had enough money to buy a whole fucking home theatre system. Did you know that the price of the one we got was equivalent to 2 weeks of my dance lessons? Yeah. Not enough money my ass. Life was past hell at that point. It went down hill from then until I finally cracked and ran away. Which brings me here" I took a deep breath and continued to look at Dutchy in utter amazement. Somehow he had endured my story but he was listening the whole time. His ears were listening, his mouth was listing, and his eyes were listening with utmost interest. And he didn't interrupt me at all. He just listened. And when I looked further into his eyes I could see that he understood.  
  
"Wow" he finally said after an awkward moment of silence. "That really really sucks."  
  
"Yeah. I never even had a birthday party. So . . . why are you here?" I asked, not expecting an interesting story like mine and of course, not getting one.  
  
"I was visiting family in Carson City."  
  
"Oh" I laughed. "Sounds like fun."  
  
"Well it's certainly nothing like your story. I could have given you some bullshit story to make you laugh. From what I heard and gathered from your lives story you could use some laughter in your life. But no, I was honestly visiting family in Carson City" his blue eyes twinkled.  
  
"Sounds awfully . . . normal" I said with a slight smile. My sky blue eyes were probably twinkling also.  
  
"Hardly. You see I was visiting my mom and her husband. My mother had me when she was 19 and wasn't ready for a child yet. So she gave me to her seventh cousin once removed to take care of me. Once I was old enough I started visiting her and we became friends. I know we're never going to have an actual mother-son relationship but we'll have a friendship."  
  
"At least you'll have some sort of relationship with your mother. And you're living with family. That's an experience I've never come to enjoy, but you seem to" I let out an exasperated sigh but I was telling the truth. I'm not the kind of person to milk sympathy and I wasn't trying. I just was telling the truth. Dutchy gave me a semi-hug. It was supposed to be a hug but that's kinda complicated to do on a charter bus, especially a moving one. So it was a semi-hug.  
  
"I guess you're right. I'm sure that someday you'll find someone who really cares. IN fact I barely know you and I already care. You know what? Why don't' you live with me until you're ready to move on."  
  
"I couldn't. What would your . . . mother's seventh cousin once removed think?" wow. That's a mouthful.  
  
"Well you see Nel, the seventh cousin once removed, is kinda a foster parent. She doesn't do it for the state but for herself. After raising me for a few years she took in a boy off the street. Then she took in another, and another, until there were four of us boys. She'd love to have a girl in the house. It wouldn't be any trouble at all."  
  
"Really?" I smiled so big and wide my face must have been stretched and my eyes probably looked like little bright blue light bulbs. "Are you sure? What would this . . . Nel think?"  
  
"Nel would love you. She's the sweetest woman imaginable. She's incredibly welcoming and caring. Don't' worry about a thing" I gave Dutchy and semi-hug and looked up at him, still smiling. I don't think I've ever smiled this much.  
  
"Just wondering, but how did you get the name Dutchy?"  
  
"What do you mean? That's my real name!"  
  
"No it's not!" I punched him lightly in the arm. "Seriously!"  
  
"You want me to be serious? Fine. I'm Dutch. I know it's not particularly interesting."  
  
"Whatever. Ii was just curious" I looked at Dutchy's watch. The time was 6:15, which meant we had about another two and a half-hours. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I've never trusted anybody this much before.  
  
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A/N-I know that was pretty long and sort of repetitive in some parts about her past but I hope it explained other things. And I also apologize if I got anything about Dance wrong, like the fact she was dancing with a bunch of piercings and bright green hair. I'm sorry if that offends anyone in anyway or if you are now convinced that I'm a stupid idiot because no one's allowed to dance in a performance with bright green hair. Be imaginative! More coming soon! 


	3. Chapter 2: Home!

A/N- sorry it's taken so long to finally updating. I've been doing A LOT of things lately and I haven't been able to work on like any other stories either. So as you noticed when I finally got around to updating I'm updating this one. WOW! You guys are awesome! I've never felt more loved. Seriously. If you keep this up I'm gonna have a butt load of reviews. And you're so nice in your reviews. YYYYAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! Sorry. Had to get that out of my system. Please check out my other stories! And please review! Enjoy the much anticipated next chapter!  
  
A/N-I'M BAAAAAAAAAACK!!! LEEET!!! I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU HAD LEFTED ME!!! WOOHOO!!!! I LOVE YOU!! YOU ROCK MY SOCKS!! Have a newsie, any newsie! Just not Spot. . . :D. Oh wow have I missed this. I don't know why I left it but I'm sure as hell glad I'm back. It's kinda funny cause I've had two already written chapters for other stories waiting to be typed and then this one was already typed. Eep. But anywho. I'm back, and not only am I back but I have *gasp* more stories! So keep watch for coming stories and updates on all!! To the story!  
  
CHAPTER TWO  
  
It's kinda funny to wake up with your head on the shoulder of an almost complete stranger. But then I remembered I had just spilled my entire lives story to him. Even that made it still a little awkward. I decided to divert my thoughts and turned to look out the window, and gasped.  
  
"Wow! It's . . . gorgeous!" I stammered, watching the lights of the city of San Francisco pass by my eyes.  
  
"Yeah" Dutchy sighed in a happy way. "I love the city at night. All the lights . . . I also love the nightlife. But that's a different story. We should be arriving at the depot in a little less then 15 minutes."  
  
"Awesome. Is Nel gonna meet you . . . er us there?"  
  
"Yeah. Do you have a . . . suitcase?" he asked carefully, trying to find the right word.  
  
"Nope. All I've got is my backpack and whatever I threw in there. It was a very spur of the moment action. I have money though. And a lot of it at that."  
  
"Well you won't need much of that money except for things you want, not need. Nel will by you whatever you need to settle in. You know, clothes, furniture, necessities, and she might even buy you a car. There's gonna be no problem. I hope you don't' think that I'm pressuring you into staying with me. I mean if that's not what you want . . ."  
  
"Dutchy" I cut him off. "It's awesome. It's just what I want. I honestly had no idea what I was gonna do and I had absolutely no plans at all. Like I said it was a very spur of the moment action. I couldn't stay there anymore. And to think . . . that was only this morning. I've only been gone for . . ." I looked at Dutchy's watch and did some quick calculations in my head. " . . . for a little over 14 hours. It feels like days, weeks, months, eternities!" I exclaimed happily.  
  
"It's truly quite hard to believe. Is that why you're so happy?"  
  
"Oh Dutchy! Happy? I'm not happy. I'm a prisoner freed after 16 years in jail. And I was wrongly accused to begin with. And now . . . the handcuffs have been unlocked, the shackles cut, the uniform cast aside. I'm a whole new me. This is the real me. I couldn't be the real me then. I would have been beat for being the real me. But now I can be, do, say anything I fucking want! Fuck her! Fuck Max! Fuck Harrison! Fuck Marigold! Fuck Forrest! Fuck Hunter! Fuck them all! May they burn slowly in hell for the rest of eternity for what they have done to me. No. Happy doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. There is no word in the English dictionary for how I feel. I've been born again" I said all this so quickly and in such a peppy manner I should have been surprised that Dutchy was able to follow what I said. But of course he had just withstood my entire life story so it would take a lot from me to amaze him.  
  
"That's great" he smiled, not at all phased by me excessive use of the word fuck. The ladies sitting behind us definitely were. I could hear them whispering about how rude and profane I was. Whatever. Screw them.  
  
"Isn't it? If I was high I'd probably convince myself I had wings and try to fly" I looked behind me at my back just to check. "Damn. No wings." Dutchy laughed and shook his head slowly, almost in disbelief of what he was seeing.  
  
"You're one different girl. I admire your overwhelmingly excessive amount of energy. How you could possibly possess so much, I don't know. If we weren't on a bus. . ."  
  
"If we weren't on a bus?!?!" I interrupted with another burst of energy. "If we weren't on a bus. . . If I wasn't on this damned bus I'd be running, jumping, skipping, and whatever else I could possibly imagine doing. I f I wasn't on this bus. . . but you know what? I'm glad I am, cause if I wasn't I might not have ever met you." I smiled and his cheeks turned slightly red. We both looked out of the window as we pulled into the depot. I don't even know Nel but I was able to recognize her immediately. It wasn't the care-free way she was dressed, in overalls and an orange t-shirt. It wasn't the wispy brown-gray hair half pulled into a bun. It wasn't her smiling red lips or the wrinkles of old age and laughter all over her face. No, it wasn't' any of those things. It was her eyes, her warm compassionate brown eyes. And just from seeing her eyes I knew it was her. I loved her from that moment on.  
  
"Look, there's Nel" Dutchy said. He looked over at me and followed my gaze. Much to his surprise I had already spotted her. But the look of surprise on his face didn't last long. That boy never gets surprised does he? Well. . . I'll just have to do something about that.  
  
"I know. She looks like a total doll. I'm sure we'll get along just fin" I said, more trying to assure and convince myself then Dutchy. Yes, I'll be honest I was worried about meeting her. But that's only because I have never had a good experience with family life. I guess one could say I'm scared that I'm actually gonna like it.  
  
"You will. She'll love you. She won't be able to get enough of you" Dutchy was saying as he got up. He pulled his backpack down from the overhead compartment and I retrieved mine from out from underneath my seat. We slowly made out way with the rest of the passengers off the bus. We went around to the side where the suitcases and passengers other personal items were being unloaded from beneath the bus.  
  
"Where's your suitcase?" I turned to ask Dutchy. But to my surprise he wasn't at my side anymore.  
  
"NEL!!" he exclaimed as he ran to the old woman, bending down to pick up his suitcase. She dropped it immediately and pulled Dutchy into a huge hug.  
  
"Dutchy! Oh how I missed you! The house was just so quite without you around" the two of them laughed and I stood a little off to the side, feeling very left out.  
  
"Nel. . ." Dutchy walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulder in a big brother like way. "I'd like you to meet Skunk. We met on the bus ride here and she kinda needs a place to stay. . ." the thing that surprised me the most about my introduction was not the fact of how unsubtle he was but the fact that he called me Skunk., not Merrily. Hell, I like Skunk better!  
  
"Well Skunk, it's awfully nice to meet you. I would absolutely adore having you stay with us and I'm very honored that you picked to stay with me and the boys. You see, we desperately need another woman around the house. So what brings you here?" I opened my mouth to respond but she laughed and kept talking. "Oh never mind. I shouldn't have asked you that. That was rude of me. If you ever want to tell, or even just talk, don't hesitate. I will always listen."  
  
"Oh" I said dumbly. "Thanks. For everything I mean."  
  
"It's no problem. C'mon Dutchy. Get your stuff and let's go!" Dutchy picked up the suitcase Nel had dropped and we followed her to the parking lot where she unlocked a red Ford Focus sedan. After putting Dutchy's suitcase and backpack, plus my backpack into the trunk we all piled in and were headed. . . well, home! 


	4. Chapter 3: The Others

A/N-alrighty, decided to crack down and update this story cause I was thinking about it and I was thinking "gee, I really like this story, I should work some more on it" so I did! I will be honest, I don't know where this story is headed at the current moment. Like when I first started writing it seven(seven? Wow, that's a lot) months ago, I had a plan but seven months is a long time so I don't remember where I wanted it to head, so we'll just let it play itself out.  
  
CC: do you wanna be in the story? Here's what I need from you. Remember, this story takes place in San Francisco.  
  
NAME  
  
NICKNAME  
  
ORIGIN OF NICKNAME  
  
AGE  
  
GRADE  
  
DESCRIPTION(include clothing)  
  
PERSONALITY(include attitude towards life)  
  
PERSONAL HISTORY(include family life)  
  
RELIGION  
  
CRUSH/BOYFRIEND(include second or third choices)  
  
DOES YOUR CHARACTER SMOKE?  
  
ANY OTHER INTERESTING FACTS  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
CHAPTER THREE: THE OTHERS  
  
Home was a pleasant looking three story home with a garage and a large oak tree in the front yard. It was in a neighborhood with similar houses. I guess one way I knew it was my new home were the three cars parked in front of it and the Focus we were in made a fourth. We pulled into the garage and Nel turned off the car.  
  
"Welcome home Skunk" she said cheerfully. "Watch out for the other boys. . . they can be a bit strange."  
  
"Just a little" Dutchy said with a laugh as he opened his door. I too, after grabbing my backpack, got out of the car and the looked around at the garage. It was cluttered with bikes, scooters, skateboards, surfboards, boxes, and plenty of other things I couldn't identify.  
  
"Wow" I said with a low whistle. "Sure looks crowded."  
  
"You should see inside" Nel laughed and opened the door to the house. I could hear guys shouting coming from inside and I cautiously followed her in.  
  
"Take that!" I heard someone yell. I looked at Dutchy, who was standing behind me, and he grinned.  
  
"We're back!" Nel hollered surprisingly loudly. "And we've got company."  
  
"Another kid?" I heard one of the guys whine. They sure seemed welcoming.  
  
"They're nice boys, really" Nel said with a warm smile and I could only nod slowly. The inside of the house looked nice and lived in but these boys sounded. . . well weird.  
  
"C'mon" Dutchy grabbed my wrist and dragged me to a room, which consisted of a few leather couches, where I saw three guys sitting in front of a large wide screen TV, that took up a whole wall in the room, playing Super Smash Brothers on some game system. Dutchy cleared his throat and the boys paused and turned around.  
  
"You never said it was a girl" said the boy with glasses. The boy next to him, with shaggy black hair, nodded.  
  
"Aw shit" said the other boy, who had brown hair. "I'm not decent" it was at this time that I realized all three boys were only in boxers and undershirts. This was turning out to be interesting.  
  
"Don't worry" I replied with a smile. "I've seen worse."  
  
"Skunk" Dutchy began, starting introductions. "This is Pie Eater, call him Pie" he pointed to the boy who had said he wasn't decent. Pie Eater? What the hell kinda name is that? Are these boys all gonna have demented nicknames? Is there a Soda Drinker too? "Bumlets is the one with the black hair" Bumlets? Dude, what is wrong with these people? "And Specs is the other one, for obvious reasons" at least Specs is a normal name.  
  
"Hi" I said unsurely.  
  
"Nice hair" Bumlets commented. Now my hair isn't that bad so I hope he was being serious.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Skunk!" thankfully Nel called for me and I was able to leave. It wasn't that I had a problem with the boys, it was just kinda awkward. I'm sure that after a little while, everything'll seem just normal. Or as normal as possible. I headed upstairs, and then up another flight of stairs. On this floor I walked past a bathroom and found Nel standing at the base of a ladder.  
  
"You get the attic room" she said as she began to hoist herself up. "The boys have always bugged me to get this room because it's the most secluded room in the house. Which is why you can have it because you're probably going to need your privacy. We would normally use this room as a guest room, but now it'll be yours."  
  
"Thanks" I followed her up the ladder, she's surprisingly nimble for a woman her age. The room was. . . roomy. It had a day bed with a comforter, a bureau, some shelf units, a bookshelf, a beanbag, a table, and it even had a small TV with a built in VCR and a stereo system.  
  
"I hope this suits your needs" suits my needs? Damn, this room is like ten times better than that crap hole room I used to live in.  
  
"It's perfect" I dropped my backpack on the floor and sat down on the bed, which was nice and firm. Nel began to head back down the ladder when something struck me. "Nel?" she stopped. "I don't have very many clothes with me."  
  
"Oh don't worry about that" she laughed. "Tomorrow we can go shopping. I'll get you what you need and whatever else you desire. Do you drive?"  
  
"Yes" I've just never had a car to drive cause Max is a cheap bastard.  
  
"Well we can also go car shopping tomorrow" woah! Wait! A car? For me? I can't let her do that.  
  
"That's really ok" here I am, passing up a chance for a car. Am I an idiot or what? But I don't want to use all her money, she has four other kids to take care of too.  
  
"Nonsense. You have your needs. I'm not going to make you share a car with the boys. That would probably turn out very bad. Now don't you worry about it. And your bathroom is the one on the right, I'll set some towels out for you" she continued down the ladder and I closed the trap door behind her. Holy shit! This is like a miracle. I don't know where she gets the money from, and I feel kinda guilty that she's doing all this for me, but she is certainly generous with it. I'm still having trouble believing that this awesome room is mine. This is definently was too good to believe. Who would've thought that running away could be so great? Not me, that's for sure. Someone knocked on the trap door and I opened up to see the top of Dutchy's head. He stuck his head through and grinned.  
  
"So" he climbed all the way up and sat down on my floor. My floor, the floor of my room, my very own! That sounds so great. "How is everything?" he asked.  
  
"Perfect!" I exclaimed sitting down next to him, and what I said was true. It is perfect. "This is amazing. Nel is wonderful. And you Dutchy. . . thank you so much for all of this. I don't think I would have made it without you" I leaned over and gave him a hug.  
  
"I couldn't just let you out on your own with a past like that" he smiled and let go. "You deserve something good" but do I deserve something this good? Doesn't matter, I have it!  
  
"Thanks again" I could only smile. "You've made a huge difference."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"I have a question" he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Where does Nel get all this money from?"  
  
"Oh" Dutchy laughed. "Her father owned some land, which they drilled and found all this oil on it. When her father died, she inherited all the money he made from the oil and she's still racking in the bucks. However, she doesn't like to flaunt her money. She prefers to use it to help people, like you and me and the boys. She also gives to a lot of charities."  
  
"So she's rich but doesn't act it and she's a philanthropist."  
  
"Yup" Dutchy nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to your business. If you need anything, my room is the one right across from the attic ladder."  
  
"Hey Dutchy?" I asked as he began to make his way down the ladder. "Which bathroom's mine?" Nel said the right, but I wasn't sure which right she meant.  
  
"The one across from the stairs" I nodded and he continued down the ladder. After closing the trap door one more time I opened up my backpack and took out my plaid PJ pants and a large T-shirt. I changed clothes and got into bed, not bothering to brush my teeth, with a huge smile plastered on my face. I can't even think of a time that I've been any happier, or felt any freer, than I am now. I bet that it hasn't even registered in her thick skull that I'm not coming back, ever. So fuck her and Max, Harrison can be their fucking baby sitter now. I'm done with that life. I'm starting a new life and they'll never be a part of it. I've got a real home, and a real family, if you could call it that, and I'm truly happy. I couldn't ask for more. 


End file.
